


64-Bit Hero

by bamfbugboy



Series: Renegades [3]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dad Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, F/M, Friendship, Gabe is Undercover in Talon, Jack and Hana bond over video games and their experiences as soldiers, M/M, Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, Post-Recall, References to Depression, Team as Family, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 12:58:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11291190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bamfbugboy/pseuds/bamfbugboy
Summary: After his first mission with the post-Recall Overwatch team, Jack Morrison finds himself worrying about Gabriel, now known to the world as Reaper, who has gone deep undercover inside of Talon. He runs into Hana Song, one of Winston's newest recruits, who offers to let him play a video game with her. Something he used to play with Gabe back in the SEP--Playerunknown's Battlegrounds.





	64-Bit Hero

**Author's Note:**

> This piece is a gift to Squiddy, from the Gency Discord, for the summer 2017 gift exchange. I hope you enjoy this work! I decided to make this a continuation of another gift piece I did for another discord's fic exchange, so it does make some references to the previous work in this series. I've always figured Jack and Hana could bond over their experiences as soldiers, especially over video games, so that inspired this piece. This was also my first time writing anything with some Bunnyribbit in it, so I hope it's okay!

Coming home after a hard fought mission used to feel like a relief. Now, with time and mileage weighing him down, only uncertainty greets him as he steps into his shabby quarters at Watchpoint Gibraltar where old memories wait in the shadows. 

Soldier 76 runs a hand through his white hair and rolls his shoulders in the doorway. He sets down his pulse rifle in the dark and fumbles for the light switch. The room illuminates barely due to the old, unused bulbs up above. Home sweet temporary home. 

Soldier 76 reaches behind his head to rub out a kink in his neck. His jacket feels tight, too constricting to provide any relief for the aches and pains in his muscles and bones. He shrugs off his trademark gear and hangs it up on the hook near the door in his quarters. Carefully, he removes the components holding together his tactical visor. Once off, he blinks several times for his sight to adjust. His vision, though blurry with old age, no longer paints everything crimson. Then, at last, comes the black body armor, up and over his shoulders to reveal fresh black and blue bruises contrasting with pale, pink hued flesh. 

He steps into the small adjoining bathroom and his gaze falls to his own reflection in the medicine cabinet's mirror. The man staring back at him, as always, catches him off guard, as if a stranger snuck into his quarters when he wasn't looking. Sometimes he doesn't recognize himself when he isn't wearing the visor. Often when he takes his face guard off, he tries to avoid mirrors. This time he didn't, and he wishes immediately that he had. The man in the mirror looks withered, tired, and disfigured. He tries not to care about his appearance, to tell himself it doesn't matter, but his best efforts don't always work. He used to take pride in himself. Now, he's lucky if he remembers to shave once a week. Jack looks away, closing his eyes, and rolls his shoulders. Their hard fought mission in southern Germany took more than he thought out of him. He’s not a young man anymore.

Luckily, the mission had been a success. The team was able to help Reinhardt recover the power armor of his old mentor despite Talon forces arriving to counter them. They managed to drive Talon to retreat, and with that victory, they were able to set up a transmitter beacon to keep tabs on the site. 

The very thought of Talon sets his blood on fire. So much so, he doesn't realize until minutes later that he's holding the edge of his bathroom sink in a damaging grip. He loosens his grip and runs a hand over his face. He often forgets his own strength, a product of his reckless youth spent in the Soldier Enhancement Program. 

Talon has already taken so much from them, but he hopes to take everything he can from them. Jack wouldn't let them take something meaningful from Reinhardt, even if they already had in many ways; at least Reinhardt could know that the memory of his fallen mentor had been preserved, all the while knowing that the woman he loved was watching his back. The woman who they all thought was dead, courtesy of Talon… of codename Widowmaker, until only a few weeks ago. Jack hadn't been able to believe what he saw. 

Success on their mission was good for morale, even if it meant coming away with some injuries from the fight. Nothing life threatening, but enough for him and Winston to agree on two weeks of shore leave to recover. Reinhardt seemed even more boisterously happy than usual as a result of bringing home the armor, even if the experience of visiting the sight of the old Omnic Crisis battle had stirred painful memories from their nest. He had Ana at his side, and the thrill of having her there was enough to buoy his spirit. 

Jack opens his medicine cabinet and looks for the bottle of ibuprofen. He pops off the cap and takes two pills with a cup of water. Even if his body will recover within the next few hours as evening approaches, the medicine will help ease the knots in his shoulders and legs in the meantime. As he puts the container back onto one of the shelves, his gaze falls to the prescription he has desperately been trying to avoid taking for months, despite Angela's insistence. Medication for depression. The only real anodyne for his psychological, mental, and emotional pain is making sure all of those Talon mother-fuckers are six feet under. He closes the medicine cabinet harder than he should. 

Jack finds a worn white t-shirt slung over his desk chair, and he puts it on. All the talk of nostalgia while on the mission has gone straight to his heart. Reinhardt's talk of his youth with Balderic, about old times spent in the forests of Germany training, has reminded Jack of moments in his past he'd rather keep a tight lid on. Reinhardt's talk of how he always fought for glory and honor, just like Balderic, during the Omnic Crisis brought it all back. How they used to talk together--the old strike team--about why they agreed to join the fight, about meaningless things to occupy the time between battles. When Jack used to have blonde hair, when he used to have his team, his friends, at his side, always. 

The weight of memories settle onto his shoulders and form a lump in his chest, nonetheless. Sometimes, he misses those early days. He misses when it was just the lot of them, him, Reinhardt, Ana, Torbjorn, Liao... and Gabriel. 

Jack slides off the edge of his bed and puts on his reading glasses. He doesn't dare catch another glimpse of himself in the bathroom mirror, not with thoughts of Gabriel Reyes on his mind. He heads back out the door of his quarters and into the hallways of Watchpoint: Gibraltar, once abandoned by time until the recalled Overwatch's arrival. His old quarters feel too suffocating, and he worries the shadows will take shape in the form of a man he isn't ready to confront. He runs away from the memories like he always has. 

For almost being dinner time, the watchpoint is quiet. After their mission debriefing, everyone scattered and broke off alone or in pairs. Normally, the many other newly inducted, if illegally, Overwatch agents are out and about. He passes the dining hall to find it empty. The training hall and gym are abandoned. He passes the medical bay and makes contact with the first agents he's seen since the dropship returned. He was going to stop by and ask for stronger pain medicine, but he sees the good doctor is indisposed: through the windows, Jack sees Genji inside, talking to Angela while she works on repairs. Except, from his angle, it looks like it's more than repairs if their kissing is anything to go by. 

He moves on. No use interrupting them. Their relationship is none of his business, and he doesn't care if they're together. They know the risks damn well. At the very least, maybe they're happier. Jack's heart turns green with envy. He remembers stealing passionate kisses with the man he loved in these halls, when they hoped no one was looking. 

Jack sighs and pinches his brows. Well, he's already started thinking of Gabriel, he might as well finish the thought, even if it hurts, over a beer. He heads back to the kitchen to steal some of McCree's hidden alcohol. Jesse thinks no one knows about his hiding place in one of the cabinets, but Jack certainly does. He takes two and leaves before he's caught. 

As he walks back to his quarters, Jack wonders if he really was paying attention to his fellow agents after landing or if he had mentally checked out. Where could everyone else be? Being alone like this sets his nerves on the fritz. 

As he passes by the quarters of other agents, he doesn't hear anything on the other side of their doors--until he reaches the quarters of Hana Song, Winston’s youngest recruit. In his own curiosity, he presses his ear to the door and hears Hana talking to other people in a tactical manner. Video games. 

"Lucio, to your left! 240 on the compass. Behind that rock. Get your scoped rifle out. I'll try to flank. You tell me if he moves, okay?" 

"Got it!" 

"Okay, I'm approaching from the south--gunfire to our east, I think they're shooting at our guy up ahead. Keep an eye on him, he might try to run." 

Jack hears the pitter-patter of video game gunfire on the other side that grows louder, which he presumes must be coming from Hana. 

"Uh…” Lucio trails off over the voice chat. “Uh! Uh! Contact! Contacts on the ridge, uh, 305 and..." 

"Where else?" 

"330! I'm getting shot at!"

"Hang in there baby, hold it together! Use the tree as cover. I'm firing on the rock guy." 

_Bang. Bang. Bang._

"Sweet. One guy down. Just seven others to go. We can do this." 

Jack hears Lucio take a shaky breath. "I healed up but I think those other guys are still there." 

"What do you see?"

"One guy still at 305, he's facing west, and he killed the guy at 330--wait, someone's shooting at him! He's down." 

"Awesome. I'm checking west. I see four contacts duking it out. Wait, two now. They are probably a duo. Four players left. Just us and them." 

"Hana my heart is racing--"

"It's okay baby, just stay still. Take a painkiller. Go prone. We're more in the circle, they have to move to us down that hill. I'm going to shoot in your direction at them once it restricts. So watch out." 

Jack hears two shots go off, then cheering on the other side. 

"Woah, Hana, that was amazing! Ha, I didn't even... Man I didn't even fire a shot." 

"That's okay, Lucio. Sometimes you don't have to." 

"This game is a rush. I felt like I made good bait." 

Hana laughs loudly. "Oh yeah, you were great boy bait. You did really well following my directions." 

"Thanks. You know what you’re doing, so you did all the heavy lifting." A pause. "Next time I'm up in Gibraltar, Hana, I'll take you out to eat--we'll have that chicken dinner we won." 

"Sounds great! I'm going to hold you to that, y’know." 

"Alright, I have to head out for my album shoot now, but you’ll always be my favorite song. I'll talk to you later. Have fun." 

"Oh yeah, I'm gonna rock some folks in solos!" 

"You're crazy, playing that game alone. I hope you don’t plan on going to _Pochinki_ without me..." 

"Dude, you gotta be brave if you wanna be that winner-winner for that chicken dinner." 

Jack hears more laughter, a sweet, heartfelt goodbye that makes him feel as if he’s intruding upon the young couple, and then a long sigh. He hears shuffling, and then before he can react, the door to her quarters opens. 

"Oh!” Hana’s expression morphs from playful to serious. “Hello there, sir. Did you need something?" 

"You don't have to be formal, I'm not your CO." 

She shrugs. "Old habits, I guess." 

Jack can easily relate. On the rare occasions during the SEP where they had time off, him and the other soldiers would joke around playing video games around the common room’s holoscreen until an officer showed up. Often, that officer had been Gabriel Reyes himself. Jack remembers how much that man would tease the ever loving shit out of all of them. Pretending to be all serious, no-fun, and then he’d steal the controller from one of them and they’d boot up a game and have no holds barred fun long into the night… usually until it was just the two of them. 

“Wow, don’t take this the wrong way, but I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you smile.”

Hana’s remark stirs him from his thoughts, causing him to sober. They stand there, awkwardly, and then Jack clears his throat and stands up straighter. He’s supposed to be the role model soldier, even if he no longer feels like one. 

“Do you know where everyone else went?” 

“I think Reinhardt and Ana went into town to pick up some supplies. Hanzo and Jesse went down to the beach. Winston’s down in the hangar working with Athena on some repairs to the dropship. Tracer’s probably half-way to London right now for her shore leave.” She leans against her doorframe and shrugs. “Not sure where Genji or Angela went.”

“Thanks.”

“What game were you playing?”

“Oh, it’s called _Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds IX_.” 

“Really?” Jack can’t help but laugh. He hasn’t heard that franchise in a long time. “That series is still around?”

“Of course it is. It’s classic Battle Royale. I was playing with Lucio just a few moments ago.” Hana grins. “Was that game around back in the Stone Age?”

“Hey, computers ran well even then, and we had plenty of good consoles too.” 

“ _You_ played video games?” She pauses, pretending to be in deep thought. “Let me guess, _Call of Duty_ and _Halo_ were your favorite games.” 

“ _Halo,_ yeah. Didn’t really care much for CoD.” 

“Hmm...” Hana glances back into her room, which is only lit by the light of her holoscreen. “You ever play PUBG?” 

Jack nods. Yeah, he used to play. It was one of his favorite games to play with Gabe back then. They used to be a dynamic pair. Gabriel preferred using shotguns and close range weapons, and Jack preferred the rifles. No one else in the SEP could best their records.

“I’ve won a few chicken dinners myself.”

“Is that pride I hear in your tone? I think I’ll believe it when I see it.” Hana grins. “You want to play a few rounds of duos?”

Jack glances over his shoulder, down the hall, to where his empty quarters await. His grip on the two bottles of beer behind his back tightens. All he planned to do was go back to his room, sit at his desk, and drink while staring down at his datapad, waiting for it to light up with a message--the one message he’s been waiting a long time for, one he has imagined reading for months. 

_It’s me. I’m alright. It’s time._

Jack expects that message won’t come tonight, or any time soon. He’s kept his ear to the earth, listening for tremors, for any sign that might tell him that Gabriel Reyes has completed the mission he and Jack set forth on New Year’s Day almost six months ago at Watchpoint: Anchorage. In the time since then, Jack answered Winston’s Recall, and Gabriel--Reaper--became a Talon asset on purpose. 

_I’m going deep undercover inside of Talon. I’m getting all the information I can about their leadership and plans--dossiers, schematics, files about the corruption inside of the U.N., about Amelie’s condition. When I’m ready, I’ll contact you, and we’ll take them down._

For the past six months, he’s felt on edge. Worse than before, when he didn’t know that Gabe was alive. Gabe’s alive, sorta, but he’s not here, where he belongs, amongst the newly formed Overwatch. He’s playing a long-con, he’s risking his goddamn life out there, and Jack wishes he could be there with him, fighting at his side, but… 

_Answer the Recall. They need you._

“Soldier: 76? Morrison?” 

Jack blinks. He isn’t in the right head space. He wants to go back to his quarters and take the pills Angela prescribed. 

“Are you doing alright? You look like you could use a break.”

Something in Hana’s expression gives it away. She knows damn well he’s anything but okay. After all, she’s a soldier. He’s read her dossier, he knows her story. Barely twenty and already she’s seen enough combat in South Korea’s MEKA program to last a lifetime. 

Jack runs a hand over his face and nods. “Sorry.” 

“C’mon. I promise the world won’t fall apart if you play a few rounds with me. Let’s see if you really are as good as you say you were.” 

Hana steps back into her quarters and lets him come inside. Jack places the two beers on a nearby table They blop down onto her plush couch and she offers him a wireless mouse and keyboard. 

“Don’t tell me you were a console gamer.” 

“Used to play on both platforms. No preference, really.” 

Hana pulls her laptop into her lap and boots up the game. They hop into the game, group up, and enter a match shortly after hitting ‘play.’ To Jack, the game hasn’t changed much. He fixes his keybinds before the game starts, and as it begins, all of his negative thoughts and worries slowly slip away. He immerses himself into the combat, the planning, and watching Hana’s virtual back. For not playing a first-person shooter game in decades, Jack finds much of his skill comes back through muscle memory. He picks up quickly. The base game hasn’t changed much since he played, luckily. Jack watches her Hana’s back as she takes point.

“I can’t believe they still have the original map after all this time,” Jack says while they’re camping in a house close to the middle of the circle. “Guess some things never change.” 

“People love dying in Pochinki. I mean have you seen this game’s merch? ‘I went to Pochinki and all I got was this bright red shirt.’” 

“Heh. Apparently.”

A half-hour passes and the number of remaining players begins to dwindle. Their guns are modded, their medkits are keybound, and they head out into the final playing field. They coordinate as if they’re out on a real world mission. As they head into cover with only another duo remaining, the room falls into silence. Jack remembers this rush of adrenaline. Then, he sees one of the other players. Hana takes the shot before he can even act. However, on the edge of his screen, he sees the final player trying to flank them. Before they can shoot at Hana’s character, Jack aims and pulls the trigger. A moment later, the victory screen appears on both of their screens. Beside him, Hana offers her fist to bump, and Jack returns the gesture. 

“Not bad, your accuracy was better than I thought it would be.”

Jack rolls his eyes. “Thanks for the compliment, I guess.” 

“Any time.”

Silence falls between them while they wait for the next match to start. Then, once they’re in the lobby with the other players, Jack puts down the controller and looks to Hana. 

“You know, I saw you received high marks by your superior officers and even recognition from some political figures.”

“Ah, so you’ve read my dossier then.” 

“Of course, I read everyone’s. I can see why the soldiers you led admired you so much.” 

“Yeah.” Hana scratches her neck. “A few weeks ago, there was another Omnic attack off the coast. My second in command took over my old post.” She takes a deep breath that’s shakier than she might have liked. “I was worried for them, you know. First time they’re on their own without me there, but they all made it out okay. He led them well, but sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice.”

Jack nods. “Sometimes it isn’t easy handing over the reigns to someone else.” He places a comforting hand upon her shoulder. He remembers young soldiers who served under his command were under stress, and often he had to personally reach out in order for them to feel comfortable talking about their problems.

“You know, if you ever want someone to talk to, I’m here. I don’t know all of what you’ve gone through, but I get it. I know what it’s like.”

“I could say the same to you, too.” 

Jack smiles half-heartedly. “Alright. You got me there.” 

“Thanks though, Morrison. I appreciate it.”

Being here, talking with Hana has helped lift his spirits, and when Jack looks back at her on the couch, he suspects she was looking for company too. 

Sometimes life feels like a game. A sick, cruel joke with no punchline. Jack used to fight his battles alone, both physical and psychological. Even if their future lay contingent upon taking down Talon from two angles, at least his path took him back to Overwatch. Here, at least, he’s among friends. Being alone made him lose sight of that. 

The countdown till the next match ends. Hana’s room booms with the sound of the game. 

“I think it’s your turn to pick a place on the map,” he tells her. 

“Alright. Pochinki it is. Hope you’re ready for a real fight. Stay frosty! I see a lot of guys going here too.” 

_Stay frosty,_ Gabriel used to tell him, as soldiers in the SEP, during the Omnic Crisis, and then in the Overwatch years. _Stay frosty, and we’ll see this through._

Jack took a leap of faith trusting Gabriel’s judgment when they parted. 

_Let’s see this through, Gabriel._

For now, he has a chicken dinner to win.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!


End file.
